PHILADELPHIA — It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, only it wasn't actually the former at all when the Dallas Cowboys made their way to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles, as Cooper Rush can readily attest. in the penultimate game of a season they'd mostly love to forget.
Rush and the offense simply could not get going at Lincoln Financial Field as the ghosts of Rush's past in the stadium came back to haunt him on Sunday afternoon.
"I think we were proud to march down the field and get a touchdown [after the pick-six]," said Rush. "That was huge for our team and for the offense. We felt like we could move the ball all day, but we just kept stopping ourselves with turnovers. That's the name of the game — two or three plays here and there.
"They don't always happen in the final minute to decide the game. Sometimes two or three early can flip a game."
The veteran quarterback threw two interceptions in the first half, marking the first time Rush has thrown more than one interception in a game since 2022, in a Week 6 matchup against these very same Eagles on this very same field.
Both of his interceptions in Week 17 fell to C.J. Gardner-Johnson, the safety having had a bead on him all afternoon.
Mix in a lost fumble by Pro Bowl tight end Jake Ferguson and things got away from the Cowboys early, and they never again got a handle on it as the Eagles would turn those three turnovers by the Cowboys into 17 of their 24 points heading into halftime.
Things weren't much different in the second half as Rico Dowdle, who was mostly a bright spot in an otherwise dark, or rather pitch-black, showing against the Eagles, lost a fumble deep in plus territory after linebacker Nolan Smith punched the ball free and cornerback Cooper DeJean recovered it.
"Minus-four is the tell-tale of the football game," said head coach Mike McCarthy of the turnover margin being wildly in favor of the opposing team. "Very disappointed. We all are. I felt like this was an excellent opportunity that we prepared for but being minus-three at halftime was a real kick in the ass.
"I think that put our defense in tough situations and points off turnovers. The giveaways were careless. Our guys had a chance to win this today, but the game got away from them. Minus-four? You can't win games like that.
"You can't even stay in games at minus-four. Look at the past four or five games and [owning that margin] is our formula to win. It was our formula to lose today."
In all, it was Rush's lowest yardage, passer rating and accuracy percentage since he faced the Eagles in Week 10 of this season.
He now falls to 0-3 as a starter against Philadelphia.
"For whatever reason, it's the stadium or whatever," said Rush, tongue in cheek. "Maybe, subconciously, I don't like green or something — I don't know."
As the world prepares itself for the James Gunn version of "Superman", the Cowboys are coming to the realization that for as solid of a quarterback as Rush has proven to be, there's a very real kryptonite he is struggling to contend with.
And, not so coincidentally, it is, in fact, also green.
